From brand building to bottom line: Can storytelling lead to sales?

As marketers wrestle with ever-tightening budgets and rising expectations, the age-old tug-of-war between long-term brand building and performance marketing is more relevant than ever. That was the core theme of a recent panel discussion at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's Content 360 Malaysia conference, where top marketing leaders gathered to unpack how emotional storytelling, agile execution, and strategic alignment with stakeholders are shaping the future of marketing in Southeast Asia.

While some panelists championed the power of heartwarming festive films to build trust and affinity, others urged caution — reminding marketers that without conversion, even the most moving story may miss its mark. 

In a panel discussion moderated by PRecious Communications' regional vice president Joey Gan, senior marketers from RHB Banking Group, Time dotCom (Time), and Burger King Malaysia shared how they’re learning to harmonise brand storytelling with tangible outcomes, and why chasing one at the expense of the other is a flawed strategy.

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"We all know that the world of marketing is moving very fast. And this applies to whatever we do, whether you're in content creation, advertising or communications, everything is at the mercy of a finger. With that in mind, we wanted to dive into the tension between the art of creating brand love and the science of driving results," said Gan. 

When asked if there was a need to choose between brand building and running campaigns which convert, Time's head of branded content and social, Lau Mun Yee said striking that balance is essential, especially when the brand’s product isn’t something customers actively think about. “For internet, you probably don't think about it until it disconnects, or it pisses you off,” Lau added. “You never wake up and say, ‘Wow, my internet is the best thing ever.’ And that’s a struggle, to remain top of mind and yet not be noticed.”

This paradox, she said, underscores the role of emotional branding: making life easier, enabling people to “plug it in, forget about it and never change provider.” Yet brand love alone isn’t enough. It has to convert. And that's driven by realistic business goals and revenue targets. Lau said:

We can't just say that we only care about brand building. The goal is to find a balance between a continuous advocacy for long-term brand love, with customer loyalty on a ground level.

That means, garnering customers who will stick by the brand every season, even when it doesn't have half a million ringgit to throw into a brand film.

Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, RHB Banking Group’s CMO, had a slightly different perspective, sharing that brand building and performance marketing have to go hand in hand. "I think in whatever we do for marketing, it's about telling stories. Stories are basically facts wrapped in context, but delivered with emotions," said Sani. While brand building helps to build a stronger emotional connection with customers, Sani said that performance marketing is about getting the conversion over the line. 

The RHB chief marketing officer broke it down further. “At any point in time, there’s only about 5% of customers actively shopping for financial products. Performance marketing helps capture that. But what about the 95%?" he questioned, and then explained that:

That’s where brand building comes in. It doesn't just convince them to purchase from you; it occupies memory space so that they will consider you in the future.

"When you do brand-building right, it becomes a force multiplier for every performance campaign that follows," he added. Sani cited RHB’s viral Raya film as an example: a story about a mother caught stealing a pencil case for her son, who then grows up to become a lawyer, inspired by the lawyer who gave her a second chance. The brand followed up with a junior savings account campaign that offered customers the chance to own that same pencil case and donate one to an orphanage. It resulted in a nearly 300% increase in average monthly account openings and a 200% increase in monthly acquired deposit balances.

Meanwhile for Leong Huey Ying, Burger King Malaysia’s head of marketing, brand and performance are intrinsically linked. “In F&B, it is part of the same pillar. You don’t look at it differently,” she said. “Right now, we’re running the Angus burger campaign. I could tell you what the Angus patty is, but that’s not enough. We choose to always amplify that our patties are ‘flame-grilled’, because that’s what Burger King is known for," added Leong.

To her, consistent messaging across campaigns is non-negotiable. She said:

Brand building is never about one campaign. It’s always about being consistent, present, and delivering the same message across different touch points.

Getting on the same page with the boardroom

Still, getting internal buy-in for brand campaigns isn’t always easy, especially when budgets tighten. One of the most critical, yet often overlooked, steps in executing a successful content or brand campaign is securing support from internal stakeholders.

In a question posed to the panel, Gan asked how marketers can get buy-in from stakeholders. She shared that there has always been a need for marketers to strike a balance between priorities, and be agile when coming up with a marketing plan.

"Your stakeholders may say that 'The ad has to be a top five or top three hit, I don't care about your story', while you might be passionate about having a tear-jerking or emotional brand film. How do you get that buy-in from stakeholders?" she questioned.

To which, Time's Lau pointed out that marketers often face a disconnect, as leadership tends to focus on performance metrics and ROI, while creative teams are perceived as chasing viral videos and social engagement. This misalignment can lead to friction. The solution, Lau said, lies in translating creative outcomes into business language. She explained: 

When we pitch ideas and when we try to get buy-ins, we break it down to the language that they would understand. Because all of us have the same goals.

"Even down to what a 'save' means. They might think that comments and likes are more important, but from our point of view, it's an important metric that we care about because it means that you are saving it to watch it again or that you're keeping it for future reference," she said. Such metrics may seem abstract in a boardroom setting, so it's up to marketers to contextualise them. Then, understanding will flow both ways. "That empathy from both parties really helped us to push through a lot of things in the past," added Lau.

For RHB's Abdul Sani, the most effective strategy lies in storytelling backed by evidence, and emphasised the power of testing ideas through pilot campaigns to gain stakeholder confidence. When use cases don’t exist, create them, he said. Then use those results to advocate for broader initiatives. This method reduces perceived risk for stakeholders.

“If it works, we go full speed ahead. If it doesn’t, we walk away with a learning,” he shared. Sani’s approach reinforces the idea that experimentation, rather than guarantees, drives innovation. He added that:

There is no loss, because at the end of the day none of us have a crystal ball to know what's going to work. The sooner you fail, the faster you succeed.

Burger King Malaysia's Leong echoed this mindset with a tactical workaround for budget constraints. In a previous role, she faced pushback for wanting to invest in a partnership campaign tied to a niche gaming IP. The solution? Repackage the campaign by linking it to an existing offer that was already part of their promotions lineup. This method allowed her to pursue a creative initiative without having to request additional funding, turning a “no” into a “maybe”, or even a “yes.” This kind of internal agility can make the difference between an idea that gets sidelined and one that makes it to market.

Even with established budgets, marketing teams frequently face pressure to shift spending from brand building to more direct performance-driven campaigns. Lau noted that this often happens during quarterly reviews, where stakeholders seek faster, more measurable returns. While frustrating at times, she said the most productive response is to focus on efficiency rather than react emotionally.

"In fact, it pushes us to work harder and be a lot more creative, using limited resources to get the same effect. We might not be able to buy a billboard, but if we do buy one billboard it better be the M. Nasir one, you know what I mean?" she said. "I always tell the team that they are better than the budget. They are the reason why we can do things, not the money." 

And on that same note, PRecious Communication's Gan said that it's a useful skill to be able to flip the script when it comes to discussions with the boardroom. "It's like saying: 'instead of cutting my budget up, I'll show you a bigger number'."

It's about proving that brand storytelling can still thrive under tighter constraints by being more strategic with the same resources whether that’s repurposing content across channels, targeting smarter, or simplifying production without sacrificing message impact.

Ultimately, buy-in comes down to shared understanding. As all three marketers demonstrated, successful stakeholder engagement is not about pitching ideas louder, it’s about aligning goals, adapting messaging, and showing how creativity and commerce can work hand in hand. When marketers learn to speak the language of the boardroom while staying true to the essence of their brand, the approval process becomes less about compromise and more about collaboration.

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